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Dolma Tsering - Miss Tibet 2002

The crown kept slipping from Dolma Tsering's head,
who was crowned the first-ever Miss Tibet on the 12 of
October 2002. Perhaps this was the only thing that the
Miss Tibet pageant had in common with the other beauty
pageants.

Dolma was unlike most Tibetan girls, who withdrew to
compete after applying. She was the only one who was
born in Tibet. Dolma had tumultuous times in the
past few months before she was crowned the first ever
beauty queen of Tibet.

Her father, a freedom fighter, who survived 21 years
of imprisonment intermittently from 1961 to 1992 in
various Chinese prisons in Tibet, passed away in July
2002 in the middle of Dolma's preparation for the
competition. Her mother, 60, spent all the money Dolma
had given her, calling her two children that she left
behind in Tibet.

Her father was a driving force for her to compete in
the Miss Tibet pageant. But then the apparition of her
father during her preparations empowered and blessed
her to push forward because he had supported her to
compete in the pageant and given her the power to move
ahead. "My father taught some history as a part of my
preparation for the pageant," Dolma says.

She was working at a modelling agency in New Delhi as
a receptionist, where she got a sense of modelling and
hitting the ramp and the general outlook of the
glamour world. This apart, she is an apprentice in the
field, having not completed her studies.

It was due to her family problems that Dolma had to
leave her school in 1998, after passing eighth class,
to give a helping hand to bring the family needs ends
together. She studied in Tibetan Children's Village
school near Manali, a popular hill station for Indian
honey mooners in northern India. She excelled at her
studies and double promoted twice.

However, it was but for circumstance that Dolma
uncompleted her studies. For her interest in studies,
she kept learning by herself such as Buddhist
philosophy, Tibetan culture and English language.
She attended an English language school in Delhi for two years.

Her life before fleeing to India was that of going
after animals. Studying was a remote dream. She was
born in 1983 in Minyak in eastern Tibet. The country
was invaded and ruled by China since 1949. Till date
1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of
the occupation. Over 6,000 centres of learning were
destroyed. The country is continued being ruled in a
brutal fashion with a strategy to wipe out the
identity of its people from the face of the earth.

Dolma's parents survived the repressive treatments but
decided to flee to freedom in India and join the Dalai
Lama. It was in 1994, her parents made the move to
flee. They went to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as
pilgrims. They went to Shigatse, another important
city in Tibet, by jeep. It was one summer night that
from here they rushed under the cover of darkness that
began their 21-day perilous journey to cross the
Himalayas. There preparation was not like that of the
fun and fame seeking trekkers in the Himalayas with
the 100% rescue prepared.

The perilous journey is synonym for death traps. It is
often accompanied by hunger, cold and loneliness, and,
one wrong move may cause the end of their life.

There were dangers of being arrested, which would mean
imprisonment and torture. At the border, there are
fears of being robbed by border security forces, who
strips off all the possessions.

They finally were received by the Tibetan Reception
Centre for new arrival refugees in Kathmandu of the
Tibetan government-in-exile. There, the new refugees
were taken care of to reach Dharamsala, India, the
exile headquarters of the Dalai Lama and his
government-in-exile, for an audience with him and to
decide on their future.

Dolma was brought up a nomadic life among Yaks and
sheep. Yaks are reared at altitude higher than 4,000
metres above sea level. Her family had 10 Yaks, 13 Dri
(female Yaks), 38 sheep, 14 pigs, 2 dogs and a cat. In
summer, the animals are brought up to the upper
reaches of the plateau while some members of her
family grew barley, the staple Tibetan diet.

Today, at age 20, Dolma is an International figure
representing Tibet in international beauty pageants.
She participated in Miss Tourism Intercontinental 2003
in Malaysia and Queen of the Tourism International in
Mexico.

Her participation maybe seen as Tibet registering in
the world of beauty and glamour. But for Dolma, taking
part in such international event symbolises getting a
sense of belongingness and a chance to rise and evolve
from denial to present the identity of an oppressed
people.

She is an aspiring Model and a Singer. "I have a
gifted voice, I love to sing and there are many songs
from my village. I also have a dream to sing for my
country."